603 Weekly Update (Week Commencing: 25/01/21)

At the start of the week, I coloured shot 18 for Rhys' project. I'm happy with the follow through of the hair/feathers. I also feel I captured the expression well.

Link to Scene 18

Last week, as I felt I had time to spare, I offered to put together a Gantt chart for a friend of mine who was struggling to manage his time. Despite daily communication, he failed to share the storyboard with me so that task has now bled into this week. He eventually sent me the storyboard so, I put together a timetable for him.

Link to Production Gantt Chart (Harry)

As he is the only person working on this project, I facetimed him while putting this chart together to discuss how long he felt he needed for each shot. As there are so many scenes, and he's on his tod, unless he finds someone to help colour, there will be no time for this aspect. I've also explained that as I'm already producing four other projects, I'm not going to get on his case or worry if he falls behind the schedule, as this is his responsibly.

Link to Scene 3 (Key Frames Only)

I then got on with some more animation. I started by key-framing scene 3 for Rhys' project. I believe the timing is accurate, and I feel as though I was able to capture the atmosphere of a busy saloon.

I updated Khoa's Gantt chart, as we learned a lot through our practice animations. For instance, Alisha and I both clean-up as we key and inbetween, whilst Khoa and Amy preferred to keep the lines rough and then clean-up at a later stage. So, I shortened the amount of time per task and added this stage to a few shots. I also gave one person the responsibility of the memory sequence, as I felt this would be the best way to keep this aspect consistent.

Link to Khoa Production Gantt Chart (Updated)

A couple of months ago, I attended a networking event for animation students and music students, to discuss potential collaborations. At the meeting, I pitched the four projects I was working on at the time and two of which found composers. A musician called Ben is working on Alisha's project (and the three of us had a meeting at the start of the week to discuss our progress) and a musician called Isaac is working on Rhys' (with Josh working on the Foley sounds).

Nobody contacted me in regards to Stacey or Khoa's projects. For Stacey's, I wasn't worried, as the focus should be on the narration, with visuals to aid. However, we certainly need one for Khoa's project. I did email someone enquiring if they were interested however, I never heard back. So, I've since messaged someone through Discord, asking if they knew anyone who was interested. They gave me another student's email so hopefully, they will be willing to work on this project. I've asked around for other musician's emails just in case, and have really tried to find someone for the job however, it's incredibly difficult when nobody is willing to communicate.

Link to Scene 14 (Key Frames Only)

At the end of the week, I key-framed scene 14. This had a similar layout however, at this stage in the story, the atmosphere is less bubbly and more tense. I tried to capture that in the background character's body language.

Link to Personal Gantt Chart (25/01)

I'm currently on schedule. If anything, I'm ahead, as I was able to move some jobs forward. I only did that however, as I'm terrified of February. I've got no idea how that's going to go, so let's see if I can keep on track then!

603 Weekly Update (Week Commencing: 18/01/21)

On Sunday night, I finished the Gantt chart for Alisha's project. I believe this is the most organised timetable yet, as there are absolutely no overlapping tasks.

Link to Production Gantt Chart (Alisha)

At the very start of the week, I key-framed a scene for Khoa's project. If I, and the rest of the team, continue to work at this rate, we shall remain on schedule. I did, however, have some serious issues to resolve during the completion of this task. 

The team had access to Toon Boom Harmony, so we all agreed to work in this software. However, when it came to actually starting, I really struggled to get it working. Certain commands and tools weren't working when I selected them, and my stylus wasn't registering half of the time.

I was already stressed with the concept of learning a new programme that I was completely inexperienced in, let alone with all these additional problems. After spending half the day trying to get it to work and failing, I requested permission from the director to work in TVPaint.

Khoa was pleased with this first scene, as he wasn't expecting it to be so clean this early into production. I explained I prefer to line as I go. However, I do tend to find myself accidentally inbetweening as I key-frame, which is something I need to work on for future shots.

Link to Scene 1 (Key Frames Only)

After raising my concerns last week over the very likely incompletion of Stacey's animation, Grace, the storyboard artist and Stacey arranged a meeting in which they discussed cutting down the script in order for us animators to have a better chance at meeting the deadline.

This meant I needed to put together another Gantt chart, which I was pleased about, as I feel as though the last one was very cluttered. Now I have less scenes to worry about, I can work on making it look more professional and organised.

Link to Production Gantt Chart (Stacey - Refined)

I also raised my concerns over voice acting to Rhys, so he began looking online for other actresses, and found one on Fiver.

At the end of the week, I made a personal Gantt chart to make sure I don't bite off more than I can chew (I already have, but at least this chart will help me visualise my tasks better).

Link to Personal Gantt Chart

I then got started on a scene for Rhys' animation.

Link to Scene 18 (Outline Only)

Study Task 1 - Review Your Presence

My Practice

- Producer / Project Manager

I enjoy scheduling. I believe that I'm well organised and motivated, which allows me to manage others easily. I've also been told I can adapt well under pressure. 

- Character Designer

Before I came to University I specialised in photo-realism and portraiture, as I loved to study people. This is reflected in my current focus of character design and character animation.

- 2D Digital Animator (Key-Framing, Clean-Up)

I believe I work best when in a team. I especially love key-framing, as I feel I can get a real sense of timing and movement.

Plans for the Future

During summer, I was in the process of writing a personal statement and CV ready to apply for a PGCE to go into teaching. I had a terrible second year of University and was ready to drop out at any time.

I had absolutely no intention of becoming an animator. However, about a month or so before third year started, I had a complete change of heart. I'm still a stress-head, but I'm really enjoying the work I'm producing this year, and I would love to get a job in this field.

I don't want to tackle freelancing, however I would love to work in a studio!

Current Work

Over the last two years, I've been incredibly hung up over grades and marks. I've always been ambitious, and strived to achieve the highest grades I could get however, I feel as though this has negatively impacted not only my outcomes, but my mental health too.

So, I embraced this year with that in mind. Grades aren't the priority. Developing a refined, exemplary and professional showreel, that will get me hired, is.

My Online Presence

- Instagram (@emily.kate.animation)

I use Instagram as an online portfolio.

- Etsy (EmKateArt)

I currently have several stickers for sale, and I'm looking into expanding to sell more merchandise, such as t-shirts and mugs.

603 Weekly Update (Week Commencing: 11/01/21)

At the end of last week, I scheduled a meeting with Stacey and the team to get a sense of where we were at. Below are the notes I took.

Link to Stacey's Project Meeting Notes (08/01)

I also made a new Gantt chart for Khoa's project. I tried to keep it as organised as possible. However, due to the amount of members in the team, verses the amount of scenes and the time we have left, there are some jobs that overlap. I did however, express to the team that if anyone becomes overwhelmed with the amount of roles they have been given, or alternatively, would prefer more tasks, to keep me informed and I can adjust accordingly. 

Link to Production Gantt Chart (Khoa)

For Khoa's project, as it is incredibly ambitious, I decided to block out the tasks in week long sections, to ensure each member of the team could keep on track. However, considering the amount of time we have left, I can't afford to do this with every project.

I spent this week redesigning a lot of the characters for Rhys' western animation. Rhys said in his original pitch that shows such as Castlevania and Attack on Titan were his main art inspiration, and what we as artists should be aiming for. So, while designing my characters, I kept the line art thin and the proportions realistic. In our third weekly session however, the lectures commented on the noticeable differences in style between character designers. They said it was obvious that different artists were responsible for different designs, and that we were nowhere near ready for production. So, I volunteered to design the remaining characters and redesign those that already exist.

I started with Marow, the protagonist, who was originally designed by Rhys. I tried to make his outfit more authentic and his proportions more realistic. I also gave him gloves to try and simplify his hands, as individual bones may be difficult to animate. There were a couple inconsistencies, such as I didn't understand why in the original design, he had hair, yet only cracks in his skull alluding to a moustache. So, I made my version bald and incorporated the features such as his hair through his human/past life design.

Next, I moved onto the bear and eagle designs, originally designed by Jason. Considering this is a western set in purgatory, I was a bit confused as to how a panda would exist in this setting, and raised this concern to Rhys. As much as I like the design, I believed a grizzly bear would better suit the setting, at least where the western imagery is concerned. So once more, I tried to keep the proportions somewhat realistic and the colours fitting to the environment.

Rhys also asked me to design Tarant, who he was originally intending on designing. He asked me to give him six arms, which strayed from my original vision of two arms and two legs, so I was worried he would be too top-heavy. As a result, I played around a little with his weight and physics.

Link to Production Gantt Chart (Stacey)

At the end of the week, I made a Gantt chart for Stacey's project. At the start of this week, there were only a couple animators on this project. Considering the amount of scenes I was animating for Khoa's project already, I began to worry about whether I could continue to work on this project. So, I messaged the animation group chat and discord asking for extra help. This wasn't the first time I had asked the class, so I wasn't hopeful. However, I was pleasantly surprised.

Link to Production Gantt Chart (Rhys)

I had also started to make a Gantt chart for Rhys' project however, I also ran into a few problems here concerning the amount of shots in the storyboard. I ended up facetiming him to try and resolve these issues as we don't have nearly enough time to complete this project, which meant a lot of the scenes needed cutting. Most of the projects I'm working on have about twenty scenes each, while Rhys' had over forty. I was quite harsh and in the end, we managed to cut down the number of scenes to twenty-eight.

I'm producing four different animations, and the main problem I'm currently facing is that every time I've asked the class for extra teammates on particular projects that were understaffed, I've either heard no response, or the same people would always volunteer. Of course I'm happy with any and all help I can get however, as the members of each team are all the same people, trying to juggle four Gantt charts, when their roles are already overlapping in one animation, let alone all four, is extremely frustrating, as I know how stressed I'm feeling about it, so I don't want to overwhelm my classmates.

If there were only a handful of final films within this module, that were green-lit and chosen right at the start, then I'm confident the outcomes would be far more developed and resolved than the films we will probably end up with, as the teams would most likely have been bigger. It's concerning that whenever I've asked for help, it's always the same few people offering. I'm not sure what projects the rest of my class are working on, but they must be pretty ambitious.

603 Weekly Update (Week Commencing: 04/01/21)

I added colour to my turn-around however, due to the time restraints and shortage of team members, Rhys and I discussed maybe reducing the amount of details (such as shading and highlights) to make the challenge of animating this project a little easier. If I have any time left before production starts, or we feel as though we could also tackle adding shadows and highlights, I will return to this piece and refine it further.

I animated a line test to make sure the character is easy enough to animate quickly, as we are limited for animators. I've ran into no problems so far, and as Rhys is happy with the test, we may be able to reuse this asset in production. The background is very underdeveloped and the angles are most likely wrong however, I'm only a character animator on this project so, I'm not going to spend too much time on this aspect. It was only to get a sense of the space around her.

I'm itching to get started on production as I'm very nervous about the amount of time we have left and the amount of members in the team.

In our online sessions, I raised my concerns over the lack of support from University, and whether we would be receiving a deadline extension. University, however, is now apparently open to those unable to work from home. So, hopefully, those members of my team who were unable to get work done from home, can now use the facilities. This is assuming they are able to travel to Leeds, as we are currently in lockdown.

It was confirmed there would be no extension, as modifications were made to the course before we came back. For instance, in this module, previous students were expected to enter four competitions, while we were only asked to enter at least one (more was encouraged). As someone who entered four competitions anyway, I personally would have preferred the two week extension.

I planned a meeting with Alisha and the rest of the team to discuss where we are currently at, and what steps need taking next. 

Link to Aviation Aggravation Meeting Notes (07/01)

I also scheduled a meeting with Khoa, Amy and the rest of that team to discuss the same questions, and also make preparations for production.

Link to Khoa's Project Meeting Notes (07/01)

603 Weekly Update (Week Commencing: 28/12/20)

This week, I added colour to the Pandora designs and sent them to the team. I am very happy with the first two however, I feel the third looks a little under developed! I'm currently on schedule within this project, and once we're halfway into January, I will make a Gantt chart for production!

Khoa, the director, was pleased with all of the designs, so I started to adapt them into his style, based on his protagonist turn-around. Using the first concept, I tested out a few different colour palettes and made sure to replicate his style to the best of my ability. He was also happy with these. 

Later on in the week, I added colour, shading, and highlights to the bounty hunter design. I'm very pleased with how this character came out, and so is Rhys, the director on this project. As I had his seal of approval, I began to illustrate the turn-around sheet.

I was originally intending on returning to University in a fortnight. However, my town was placed in Tier 4 so I'm no longer able to travel. Not only that, however, we received an email this week stating that the University would remain closed until the very end of January. So, I most likely won't be travelling back to Leeds until about then. At this point in time, there has been no mention of any extensions so, as producer, I'm feeling a little apprehensive, as some members of my teams have stressed that they're unable to work from home.

The fact this module relies heavily on teamwork is also an issue, as it's more difficult to communicate with one another when we're not seeing each other daily. As a lack of communication could be detrimental to the outcome of work, I'm making more of an effort to message my teammates as regularly as possible, to ensure everyone is on target. I've also been facetiming Rhys weekly.

It was my birthday at the weekend, so I took these days off.